Maybe I should clarify here:

- There is absolutely no shortage of various 20W50s (or any other oil) in Singapore. I have been running Redline 20w50 so far and no issues with it.
- As stated above per manual and ambient temps here, I can optionally to the 20W50 also run a straight 50.

I would simply like to try and see if there is any felt difference, like we mod our bikes, why not try another type of oil. Since the particular oil I linked to is recommended for "older Harleys" I just wanted to make sure this is not a recipe for ruining my engine...

Best, niv

 

This is something to at least look at. 45,000 miles Mobile 1 20/50 all of it's life. Consider this bike has been ridden in Hot weather and extreme cold. Temps as low as 20 below. It also tugs a twin sidecar. I had become concerned lifters might need a look. Also a 2017 that never had any transfer issues or sumping I wanted to do an S&S oil pump. When it was opened up The lifters show no real wear on the rollers. But the Cam on every lobe showed face wear. Picture include. The question would be. 1 lube failure. Cold start ups, or faulty cam surface Harding. No way to know for sure.
As someone that has for many .years ridden in extreme cold I tend to think cold start ups played a roll, down side to heavy straight weight oil is start up. it takes awhile for lifters to pump up and for full oil flow to get to heads. A good syn 20/50 is likely going to do the best job of cold start up protection. Will any of this madder to most riders? Unlikely.
Short history 07 ,75,000 miles 2011 52,000 miles , 2013 72,000 miles 2016 52,000 miles 2017 45,000. None of these bikes ever had an engine failure . Two had lifters replaced . The 2017 cam thing who knows. But that was clearly an HD issue.
New bike coming this week. I am after a life time pissed at HD so new bike will not use and HD products at all There are plenty of options for great lubes out there.

 

Or maybe it's from running motorcycle oil that doesn't have the friction modifiers that the race oils have. I've seen plenty of similar pics, particularly of cams, and all were running motorcycle oil. It's just not necessary to run oil that does not have these friction modifiers that don't work in wet clutches because harley motors don't share a sump with the primary like other motorcycles do.
I'll run race oil that has these friction modifiers. I've never seen any kind of wear like that.
Friction modifiers provide a secondary barrier between metals in addition to the primary barrier AW additives like zinc and phosphorous provide. Motorcycle specific oil does not have these friction modifiers because they cause wet clutches to slip. So don't run it in your primary. Run it in your motor where it's needed. Harleys have that luxury of running separate oil for each where other motorcycles can't. These are what motorcycle oil is for.

 

Gunner i ran vr1 20-50 when it was cold 40°F on my twin cam and the same thing happened to my Andrew's 21 cam, also scuffed a piston. Still ran it for 8000 miles with the vr1 to keep it from rattling as much during the summer. I do believe in the cold conventional oil 20w50 is to thick and will cause cavitation . Synthetic is better for cold weather.